John s



UNITED .renin s. cRAnY, or* SALEM, NEW YORK.

IMPRQVEMENT ih! METALLIC CARTRBDGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent'No. 117,388, dated July 25,1871.4

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN S. CRAEY, of Salem,-

in the county' of Washington and State of New York, have inventedcertain 'Improvements in Metallic. Cartridges, of which the following isa' specification, reference being had to the accom- View of a centrallire-cartridge embodying iny` improvement, and Fig. 3 is a transversesection' r on the line a: a' of Fig. 2.

In constructing inyiinproved cartridge I provide a-metallic shell, A,made iii the sual form, and within this outer shell A I place. anothershell, B, the two being arranged concentrically, as represented in Fig.3, thereby forming two chambers for receiving the powder. As shown inFigs. l and 2,-the outer shell A should be enough longer, than the innerone te iit securely over the rea portion .oi' the bullet, to which it issnugly iitted, as is usual in this class oi' cartridges. It' it bedesired to make it a rim-lire. then the two shells may be formed -withclosed heads or bases, as represented in Fig. l, the outer one having acavity in its rim or flange for receiving the fulminate D, asrepresented. The head or base of the two shells may be indented whenformed so as to insure their being concentric when united, and I preferto solder or otherwise secure thein together. The inner shell B may haveits rear end left open and its edge be fitted in an annular recessformed for it in the head of the outer shell which will assist to secureit in place and facihtate the soldering of it -fast, as the solder maybe placed in the recess,

the inner shell be inserted, and the soldering effected by simplyplacingthein upright on a suitable furnace or plate properly heated;When thus made the fulminateis inserted in the rim, the outer chamberyfilled with coarse or slowburning powder, and the inner or central chamAber then )filled powder, and the ball inserted in the mouth ot theouter shell and tting close over the open end of the inner shell B. lfpreferred, .the bnllet C may be made with a groove, E, in its base,

.breech-loading arnis,

lwith a finer or quick-burning into which the front end ofthe innershell. will iit, as represented in Figs. l and 2 When such a cartridgeis iired, the fnlniinate D will first ignite the powder in the outerchamber, and

as the ball moves forward the dame from the outer chamber will ignitethe vpowdeiiat-the front end` of the inner chamber, which will thenfollow up' the bullet with a more poweril pressure. If it be desired toconstruct it as a central-lire cartrige, then the shells may beconstructed as represented in Fig. 2, in which the outer shell A has ahole Vformed in the eei'iter of its head or base, and the inner one hasits head struck up in the forni of a nipple or anvil, on which a cap,

D, can be placed, through the opening in the head of A. Or, ifpreferred, both of lthe shells may be thus struck up inthe forni of anipple or' anvil, in which case soldering may be dispensed with. In thisthe central charge will be ignited first, and therefore theslower-burning charge in such case is placed in the inner or centra-lchamber and the quicker-burning charge in the outer chamber. A A

It is obvious that the comparative capacity "of the chambers may bevaried as desired when making the shells. Itis also obvious that thesame quality of powder may be used in both chambers if desired; but I,deen'i it better to use ,a quicker charge in the 'chamber last tired,and with that view l propose. to use in the chambrlast ignitedgun-cotto`n or' any similar ex-.

plosive in order to increase its power.l

Having thus described my invention, what I claim isi-,-

A cartridge, composed of twoseparate chargechambers, each filled withpowder or its equivalent, and p rovidedr with fulminate or a cap,

whereby it can be exploded'in the ordinary substantially as set forth.

'JHN S. URARY.

Witnesses B. F. BANcnoFr,

L. SHELDON.

